1. On this day, according to Henry Storch, “every being susceptible of pleasure left the town,” to go to Peterhof, the imperial palace on the Gulf of Finland. This Palace was begun in 1711 and built under the direction of Jean Baptiste Alexandre Leblond, Peter the Great’s architect, who designed the famous water cascade. The road from St. Petersburg, about sixteen miles long, was “so covered with equipages, horsemen and pedestrians, that it resembled one continued caravan.” At twilight “the whole gardens are illuminated; the branches of the trees, and the water of the fountains seem to be converted into fire. The excellent situation of Peterhof and its variety of water-works here combine with the effects of pyrotechnics, to fascinate the sight by a grand picture, produced as it were by magic, and which, once beheld, can never be forgotten.” Meanwhile, inside the palace, “the motley-coloured multitude of masks press round the well-furnished tables or join hands in the mazy dance” (Picture of Petersburg description begins Henry Storch, Picture of Petersburg, English transl., London, 1801. description ends , p. 460–462; Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel description begins Pierre Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel du XlXe siècle ..., Paris, [1865]; 15 vols, and supplements. description ends ; Thieme and Becker, Lexikon description begins Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler, von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1907-1950; 37 vols. description ends ). JQA’s attendance at the annual festival in 1811, while minister to Russia, is described in Memoirs description begins Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Philadelphia, 1874-1877; 12 vols. description ends , 2:284–288.